Yesterday students learned about food chains and food webs and how they are related to one another. Today they will learn what occurs to the energy each organism either produces or consumes as it moves through the system. They will learn about the rule of 10 and how to calculate the available energy in each trophic level. Because there is usually confusion with the energy amounts in each trophic level I have separated this lesson from the food chains and webs one to make sure they understand this concept on its own.
Objectives
Students will be able to compare and contrast a pyramid of energy and a pyramid of biomass and calculate the percent of energy that is in each trophic level.
The students will be able to use data from a specific ecosystem to explain relationships or make predictions about how environmental disturbances affect the flow of energy or the cycling of matter in an ecosystem.
Students will be able to define and give an example of equilibrium in an ecosystem.
Materials
Energy Pyramid worksheet
Links to Resources
Safety Issues
-None
Instruction
- Opening (=5 minutes)
- Energy flow inquiry activity (= 25 minutes)
- Energy flow worksheet to be done together on E.L.M.O (=10 minutes)
- Energy Pyramid powerpoint (= 7 minutes)
-Closing (= 3 minutes)
Opening
"We know that energy flows through a system, but today we will learn about what happens to that energy as it flows from the eaten to the eater. Thinking about what we know about food webs, can anyone guess what type of organisms are present in higher populations within a food web. Why do you think that?" (Producers because you need a lot of them to make food for the consumers)
"Say a producer is 100% effective in receiving the sun's energy, what does it do with this energy?" (Uses it to sustain life functions) "How then, does a consumer get any energy from eating the producer?" (There is some left over) "Looking at this food chain and knowing energy flows in a one way direction from the left to the right, do you think there is more energy available at the left hand side near the producers or more energy available at the right hand side near the consumers?" (the right) "Today we will learn just how much energy is available at each level of the food chain"
What is the magic number that helps us determine the amount of energy in a particular trophic level? (10, The Rule of 10)
We learned today what occurs to energy as it flows through a system, can anyone tell me why higher level consumers have to eat more food than primary consumers? (Because they need to account for the less energy available in higher trophic levels)
Assessment/Homework
Homework will be collected and graded as a homework grade. I will formatively assess where there is confusion and what I need to go over based on common homework errors.
Unit: Ecology
Title: Energy Pyramids
Lesson Overview:
Yesterday students learned about food chains and food webs and how they are related to one another. Today they will learn what occurs to the energy each organism either produces or consumes as it moves through the system. They will learn about the rule of 10 and how to calculate the available energy in each trophic level. Because there is usually confusion with the energy amounts in each trophic level I have separated this lesson from the food chains and webs one to make sure they understand this concept on its own.Objectives
Links to Resources
Safety Issues
-None
Instruction
- Opening (=5 minutes)- Energy flow inquiry activity (= 25 minutes)
- Energy flow worksheet to be done together on E.L.M.O (=10 minutes)
- Energy Pyramid powerpoint (= 7 minutes)
-Closing (= 3 minutes)
Opening
Learning Activities
Closing
Assessment/Homework
Homework will be collected and graded as a homework grade. I will formatively assess where there is confusion and what I need to go over based on common homework errors.
Additional Notes